'Internationalizing Internet Studies'

Call for papers for a edited collection by

Gerard Goggin (University of Sydney) & Mark McLelland (University of =
Wollongong)

>From the mid-1990s onwards, the Internet has shifted fundamentally from =
its co-ordinates in English-speaking countries, especially North =
America, to become an essential medium in a wide range of countries, =
cultures, and languages. According to October 2005 statistics, Chinese =
language now represents 14% of all Internet communication and media use, =
Spanish 9% and Japanese 9%. At 35% and falling, English use is now a =
minority in terms of overall online language use. However, =
communications and media scholarship, especially in the Anglophone =
world, has not registered the deep ramifications of this shift - and the =
challenges it poses to the concepts, methods, assumptions, and =
frameworks used to study the Internet.

The vast body of Anglophone scholarship into 'the Internet' is =
predicated on research on and about English-language websites by =
academics and other researchers working and publishing in English. =
Despite the fact that there is also a large body of work being produced =
by scholars in non-English-speaking cultures and locales, hardly any of =
this work is being translated and it has had little impact on =
theorization of the developing fields of Internet and web studies.

The purpose of this anthology, 'Internationalizing Internet Studies', is =
to acknowledge that Internet use and Internet studies take place =
'elsewhere' in various national and international contexts. We seek to =
uncover how non-Anglophone uses of the Internet might challenge certain =
preconceived notions about the technology and its social impacts as well =
as the manner in which Internet studies is taken up, valued and taught =
outside the circuits of understanding prevalent in Anglophone academia. =
Through bringing together researchers whose daily experience of the =
Internet is mediated through non-Anglophone languages and cultures as =
well as researchers situated within the Anglophone academy whose work =
focuses on cultures outside North America and Europe, we hope to promote =
the visibility of work already being done outside the Anglophone world. =
We also aim to encourage new work that critically engages with =
Anglophone Internet scholarship that is based on research into diverse =
locales and draws upon a range of intellectual traditions.

Accordingly, we wish to gather together a distinctive collection of =
contributors who can illuminate the key features of the Internet's =
internationalization, surveying exemplary Internet language groups and =
cultures. We hope to encourage explorations of the distinctive features =
of the consumption and use of the Internet by various language groups, =
and how this expands and questions taken-for-granted notions of Internet =
studies.

We are also interested in contributions that reflect upon this =
cosmopolitan turn in the Internet, and what it signifies for our =
methods, tools, and concepts of Internet studies - and for media, =
communication, and cultural theory themselves. Here we are concerned =
with the debate - yet to emerge - on the internationalization of =
'Internet studies'.

Contributions would be welcomed, but are not restricted to, the =
following topics:

* non-anglophone language communities use of the Internet

* Asian countries and communities use of the Internet (especially =
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)

* mobility and the Internet: how the Internet is deployed by people on =
the move across borders
* use of the Internet by diasporic communities
* Internet use by minority language speakers in majority Anglophone and =
other language contexts
* Indigenous use of the Internet
* how particular Internet technologies (websites, peer-to-peer =
technologies, blogs, social software, mobile Internet) have been shaped =
and are used by different language and cultural groups
* cell phone, mobile and wireless technologies and the =
internationalizing of the Internet

* how does this change our understanding of Internet cultures and =
cultural histories?
* what the implications of internationalizing of the Internet for =
debates concerning cultural citizenship and media diversity? (not least =
Internet governance, open source and commons debates)
* what are the implications of increasing 'global governance' of the =
Internet for local and countercultural communities?
* how is Internet studies responding to the internationalizing of the =
Internet - what new concepts, methods, locations and relationships does =
it need?

 Timeframe:

 Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words to both editors =
outlining your proposed contribution to the edited collection by 31 =
January 2006. We will advise acceptance by 1 April 2006.

We will be holding a workshop on 'Internationalizing Internet Studies' =
in Brisbane on 27 September 2006 immediately before the Association of =
Internet Researchers (AoIR) Annual Conference 7.0, and hope that we will =
be able to invite some contributors to attend and present drafts of =
their full papers. (We expect limited travel bursaries will be available =
for those attending from outside Australia).

About the Editors:

 From January 2006, Dr Gerard Goggin (g.goggin_at_uq.edu.au) will be an ARC =
Australian Research Fellow in the Department of Media and Communication, =
the University of Sydney. He has published widely on Internet and new =
media, including Digital Disability (2003), Virtual Nation: The Internet =
in Australia (2004) and Cell Phone Culture (forthcoming 2006).

Dr Mark McLelland (m.mclelland_at_uq.edu.au) is a Lecturer in the School of =
Social Sciences, Media and Communication at the University of =
Wollongong. Recent Internet-related publications include Japanese =
Cybercultures (2003) and Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the =
Internet Age (2005).

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Received on Tue Dec 13 2005 - 08:39:13 EST